1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wagering and, more particularly, to a wagering system and method of wagering wherein the outcome of a race, for wagering purposes, is determined based upon comparing contestants amongst which at least one of the contestants has a time adjusted race identity based upon selected handicapping criteria.
2. Background Art
Horse racing (greyhound and quarter horse racing also) has been in decline for decades in the United States. Newer forms of gaming (casinos) have largely replaced racing as the number one gambling pastime. Racing is a slower paced activity in that wagers are spread out over a longer period of time. Casino gambling is far faster paced and the application of knowledge and skill to the games being played is simple and fast. In contrast, racing requires a player, if he/she wants a reasonable chance of success, to acquire a vast reservoir of knowledge and then apply that knowledge to the past performance publication for the race in question. This application is also time consuming. Thus, racing grew up as a slower paced gambling product. Current simulcasting of many races may seem to speed up the pace, but handicapping a race takes time and even if one has 5-10 races to play in 20-30 minutes, the good horse player can't process each race fast enough. Overnight study helps but factors present at the time of the race (track condition, track bias, weather) remain available only at post time. Additionally, “overnight study” may not be attractive to today's younger gambler. But a new generation gambler betting into racing pools taking 18-35% commissions on each bet appear doomed to lose big and can't hope to compete with expert handicappers taking the time to do the necessary homework. Thus, these new people gave up or never started going to the racetrack. Hence, the decline of racing occurred. Casinos, while being faster—20 bets per minute—also have commissions ranging from less than 1% to 3-5% on many bets.
The inventor herein devised a wagering system format as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,888,136 and 6,152,822 to bet the races in a slot machine format. The purpose was to put novice horse players on an even footing with experts, increase the speed of play, unburden the player from the need to acquire handicapping skills, and remove the long time period necessary to handicap a race.
A primary element in the solution to bring racing into a competitive condition with casinos is to increase the speed of play while reducing commissions and at the same time making long periods of studying past performance unnecessary.
For much of the 20th century baseball was the main sports betting game in the United States. While not pari-mutuel, the baseball betting line was expressed similarly to horse racing odds. The two teams may be even money, or one team a 2-1 favorite. Typically, the Yankees might be 180 over the White Sox. A Yankee bettor would put up $180 to win $100 while a White Sox bettor would put up $100 to win $170. The $10 difference being the bookmaker “edge.” This form of gambling is called “money line wagering.”
During World War II the story is, a Chicago bookmaker—nicknamed the “Wizard of Odds”—devised the point spread. For several reasons (not germane here) baseball does not lend itself very well to point spread betting, though it is used today on occasion in combination with a money line. Yet football and basketball do lend themselves spectacularly to point spread wagering. In fact, so much so, they have greatly eclipsed baseball in popularity in both Las Vegas and underground wagering. The point spread effect is essentially this—it matters very little for 99% of the people betting which side they bet. The Bears +6½ points or the Saints −6½ points—either bet is mostly the same. The event can go either way. One percent or less of the players are so expert that the side picked does matter. For example, on a Sunday with fourteen games going on maybe one or two will matter to the experts. The other 12-13 games really are a 50-50 proposition.
One racing format developed to spur additional interest in horse racing is what is referred to as European “spread betting” on horse races, also called “winning distance index.” European spread betting does use lengths won by or head or neck or multiple lengths (not time), but it is fixed odds wagering and does not involve time handicaps. It also does not involve placing results of all the horses but is offered by bookies as a proposition bet whereby a bettor can win more if his horse wins by progressively wider distances. By its nature it is complex and can only match up horse versus horse or horse versus winning margin, and its odds payoff while varying as to how far a winner wins by is predetermined (fixed odds) before the contest.
The industry continues to seek out racing formats to make betting on horse and dog racing more attractive to the overall betting population, and particularly those less inclined to spend the time and effort to understand the nuances of informed betting.